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NEW AUTHORS SHOWCASE |
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09-01-04 (p2) |
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Epidemic by Isobel Kelly |
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Synopsis In 1972 Han Wenzao, a Chinese Surgeon, is involved in a covert plot engineered by Lin Biao, head of the armed forces and Chairman Mao’s heir. His plan was to destabilize America, Russia and the United Kingdom in order to draw attention away from his coup to topple Chairman Mao from rule. The conspiracy is discovered and the primary plotters are executed. Han Wenzao is imprisoned for life in Chongqing Laogai, a Chinese prison well known for its brutality towards its inmates. There he endures the misery of prison life by existing in a solitary manner; eventually sharing his medical knowledge with inmates until the guards begin to respect him. He suffers many years of imprisonment until one day he hears alarming news from the outside world, which awakens his dormant conscience to repent his crime. It troubles him so much he resolves to escape to seek the location of the deadly virus for which he was jailed; a virus that could cause annihilation to humans everywhere. In 2002, British-born Detective Inspector Marc Stuart, who becomes a naturalized Australian in the Sydney Police, is devastated when his wife, Joanna is killed in a car crash. He is right in his belief that it was initiated by a member of a Chinese Triad engaged in drug smuggling, in revenge for being raided by the police. Some months later, due to problems of drugs in Australia, Marc Stuart is chosen by his Chief Superintendent to go to f long Kong to seek out information on the Triad Societies in an effort to learn what Australia may be up against. While he is there, news comes in from mainland China of an unusual happening concerning an escaped Chinese prisoner and the possibility of a deadly virus that might be loosed on the British population. In an effort to keep the news low-key and out of public domain Stuart is elected to go to London to find the man whom they think may still possess the virus. In London, Jennie Young’s husband, Clive Young, vanishes without a trace. He is so much a creature of habit his wife cannot understand the reason for his desertion. Following a visit from Marc Stuart, she is horrified to discover that Clive is not the Englishman she thought she married five years previously but is a Chinaman who has had plastic surgery. It is probable he was sent to the UK many years before as a Sleeper to await instructions. The instructions have never arrived and Clive Young has relaxed into a comfortable life. Han Wenzao’s escape leads to a group of Kwan Ti Triads tracing Clive to his home and he is kidnapped. He is tortured to reveal the reason Han Wenzao wanted to find him. They learn the secret of the Mandarin figurine, which contained a deadly virus. Clive hesitates too long before revealing how the statue can be opened and is accidentally killed. Son Li Yatsen, Dragon Head of the Kwan Ti has an idea that he will use the virus to blackmail Hong Kong. The Triads return to Hong Kong with the statue after disposing of the body. Marc Stuart does not know this. He has no means of identifying Young, who would never allow a photograph of himself. Presuming Young has been taken back to Hong Kong, he persuades Jennie to return with him, hoping that the police there will locate her husband and she will recognize him. Mu Lok, a Triad member of the Triad family dealing in organised crime in Hong Kong, lately drug dealer in Sydney, killer of Joanna Stuart and unwitting killer of Clive; has fallen out of favour with his relatives. It is not simply a matter now of ‘saving face’ but of saving his life. He comes up with an ill-thought-out plan of his own to kidnap Jennie and please his evil-minded uncle, Son Li Yatsen. This only makes things worse for him. Marc Stuart, who has fallen in love with Jennie Young, sets out to get her back. The house where she is imprisoned is set alight and he is frantic to save her. Finally, removing the window bars from her cell she is rescued. Meanwhile the contents of the second phial holding the deadly bacteria is accidentally released in mainland China and swiftly an epidemic of huge proportions is spreading among the population and to other parts of the world. Hu Jintao, Vice-president of the Chinese Communist Party finds himself drawn into the dreadful situation not only because of the appalling contagion but because he is also threatened with blackmail concerning his private life when he was stationed in Tibet In the end Mu Lok and Son Li Yatsen meet their end and become gruesome shark bait. Returning to London Jennie buries her late husband then she flies back to Sydney and a new life with Marc Stuart. The SARS epidemic is still ongoing but countries are working furiously to contain it and develop antidotes.
China 1972
“...You will guard this with your life, understand? It must never leave your hands, ever. When you come to use it, you must be very careful you do not get contaminated with the contents. Then you must leave the area at once and seek a safe place. If you have to dispose of it beforehand then it must be by fire. No other way will the contents be safeguarded. However, you won’t dispose of it; understand? You will follow our orders to the letter.” Han Wenzao put the two halves together, listened for a click, and placing it in a small leather pouch he handed the statuette over to Lau Yeung. Almost hypnotically, the youth nodded. The indoctrination had taken many weeks and was encased firmly in his brain. Nothing would be forgotten; all orders would be followed without fail. In spite of that, it was with some caution that he accepted the parcel. holding it carefully secreted it in an inner pocket of his clothes he said, “I understand, my master, and will do your bidding.” “I trust we may meet again when the task has been fulfilled. Now go, my son, and max the Gods go with you.” The doctor bowed his head in dismissal. At this blasphemous rejection of Chinese communist upbringing Lau Yeung flinched then in an instant realised that whatever God he had to embrace in the future it would not matter, the soul of him was Chinese and would ever be so. Bowing low to Dr. Han, he quickly left the room. Collecting his case took only moments for he was packed and ready. A vehicle was waiting to take him on the first stage of his adventure into a new life and a career in the West, depending on whether he could survive long enough to get qualifications that would earn him a living until his time as a sleeper was completed. Han Wenzao was busy with the second candidate later that day when the door to the surgery was flung open and before Han had a chance to utter a word the room filled with soldiers. Both he and his companion were immediately seized and flung to the floor where they lay helpless at the feet of an officer, his uniformed body stiffly rigid like a tightly wound spring who stood over them, legs wide apart, regarding them with great menace. Han immediately raised his head to protest passionately at this outrageous treatment, but the captain at once lifted his booted foot and kicked him viciously. “Silence, you low-born maggot!” He cried, “You are under arrest. Keep your protests for those that may or may not listen to them if you are ever fortunate enough to have a trial. As far as I am concerned, you are a traitorous dog and shall beg for your life on your knees. If I have my way, I am not granting you any mercy. As for this eyesore, a mutant of the lowest order, shoot him.” At once, before Han could so much as breathe a word to prevent the execution, one of the soldiers standing close by obeyed the order. The shot rang out and instantaneously the young student lay dead on the floor beside him, oozing a stream of blood that tainted the air. “What have you done, you fool!” Han could hardly contain himself he was so filled with rage “You’ve wasted weeks of work. You’ll answer for this outrage — Qian Qiaomu will have your head for this… this... murder… or if not him then certainly Lin Biao...” “Take care you don’t lose yours, doctor. Lin Biao is dead! He tried to escape from China in a plane. Unfortunately it crashed.” Han saw the sneer that lifted the captain’s mouth and knew at once that the crash was no accident. “As for Qian Qiaomu - he is under arrest by Chairman Mao’s orders and his execution will undoubtedly follow shortly. Now, my orders merely confirm your arrest. As I said - if I had my way. . .” He levelled a kick at the dead youth. “This is what you deserve, like his companion we found earlier. Qian is doomed after the part he has played in the attempted coup and all your plotting has ended. You are finished. Take him away!” The officer turned on his heel and left the room while Han was dragged to his feet and with no notice taken of his protests that he was working under government orders, he was hauled away to a prison. There he was repeatedly beaten to disclose the whereabouts of the youth who had vanished much earlier. Vie kept silent, merely reiterating time after time that only two had finally survived the tests; all the others had failed. Neither did he divulge what method was being used to convex the virus to its eventual destination. Eventually they left him alone and later, after a brief, almost contemptuous semblance of a trial found him guilty, he was sentenced to life imprisonment in one of China’s more notorious Laogai prisons.
We know what happened to two Jade Mandarins and their end: One in the fire at Son Li Yatsen’s house, the other being analysed. What about the third Chinese Statue? What happened to it? Where is it now? Do we conjecture or await a jealous god exacting vengeance on the human race? Will another virus strike again? |